The Darker Secret of the Ooze
by Drumboy100
Summary: Raphael's mutation has worn off, and he is just an average turtle again. His brothers and Splinter must try to create another dosage of the ooze for him, and hope that they don't run out of time themselves. Set after the first four movies, Donatello's POV.
1. Chapter 1

I heard Mikey's screaming when I was in the bathroom, of all places. I bet that's a new image for most people, a mutant 22-year-old male turtle going to the bathroom in the sewer. We might as well have gone right outside our front door, for Chrissakes.

I finished as quickly as I could (why would anyone wash their hands, anyway?) and overturned a stack of records in my haste to get to the bedroom. Nothing about the room stood out to me at first glance, but my usually laid-back, party-lovin' younger brother was a scary shade of light green, and I dreaded to think what could have terrified him to this degree.

Rushing to put a hand on either of his shoulders, I attempted to soothe him so I could get some answers. "Mikey, Bro, it's Donnie! I'm here! You're okay, shhh, you're safe. What's going on?"

Mikey's eyes rolled wildly, and moisture began to gather at the corners of his eyes. I realized with a shock that I had never seen him cry before.

Leonardo skidded to a stop through the doorway just in time to see Mikey force himself to focus long enough to point a shaky finger at one of the cots. Both of our pairs of eyes instantly followed where it was pointing to.

My first reaction was a slight frown. There was a small, pet-sized turtle on one of our cots. It was too clean to be from the sewer. And there was no way that anyone from my family ever, ever, ever would have bought a turtle and kept it confined as a pet.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't speak. I frantically searched around the cot, and soon found what I knew would be there: a red, looped bandana that sure wouldn't fit Raphael's forehead now.

I heard a loud, ungraceful thump behind me as Leonardo sank to the floor, and I leaned against the nearest wall for support. Always the most sensitive of my brothers, I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and let the tears fall silently down my cheeks.

"Enough." We heard a compassionate, yet stern, authoritarian voice, a voice that we couldn't help but obey even in the hour of our grief. "We will address this crisis as a family. Come to my room. Now." Splinter used his cane to hobble to the cot and pick up Raphael, holding him to his chest as he left the room.

My muscles felt weary, and I felt no inclination to test their strength. Compelling myself past my anguish, I pushed off the wall and instinctually found Michaelangelo. "Come on," I said, touching his arm and pulling it gently. We supported each other as we followed Splinter's order, knowing that Leo was strong enough to make it on his own.

"Kneel," Splinter said, standing at the center of the room, and we each gratefully obeyed, glad not to have to support our own weight anymore. In the back of my foggy head, I knew that Splinter was not doing this to be insensitive; he knew that we needed our usual structure and routine in order to stay afloat after trauma, and he acutely felt the ticking of the clock, if indeed there was any time left to bring back Raphael.

Splinter placed our brother on the low table in front of him, and the turtle slowly began to explore this new territory, stopping at the edges of the table to evaluate the danger. Leonardo reached forward and picked him up. Holding him briefly in front of him, he put the turtle back down.

"That's not the Raphael we know," Leo said dully. "Raphael never would have let me pick him up without fighting for all he's got. That turtle has none of our awareness in him."

A fresh round of tears pricked my eyes, and I swallowed them back.

"What are our theories?" Splinter asked. "What do we think is going on here?"

"Raphael probably exposed himself to something, the idiot," Leonardo said, finding anger a less painful expression of his grief. "He never did fully give up his Nightwatcher gig."

"And the chemical formula had a delayed release?" I asked. "What could he have been around last night that would have taken ten plus hours to take effect? He was here all this morning."

There was a moment of silence as we pondered the pros and cons of this brainstorm. "What if the Foot is back?" Mikey asked. "Are they involved again?"

I doubted it. The Foot had never shared the vengeful passion of their late Master; they never understood why he cared so much about destroying a few mutants from his past. After the Shredder died, the Foot had mostly scattered to other cities, staying in small numbers to avoid detection and never returning to their former prominence.

"What other ideas do we have?" Splinter asked, walking slowly in front of us.

We looked at each other and back to him. "Sensei, what is your theory?" Leo asked quietly.

Splinter stopped, looking at a point beyond our heads, and we could tell that an internal struggle was going on. Finally he said: "I believe we have defied Nature as long as she will permit us to."

The den seemed colder, darker as our hearts wrestled with these words. "You believe the power of the ooze is wearing off," I said, in the deadpan despair that so often follows the shock of grief.

"I believe that we are, in a sense, addicted to the ooze. And this dosage has worn off." He looked at each of us in turn, his expression resigned but troubled.

"But—but we'll fight this, won't we, Master Splinter?" Mikey spluttered, wide-eyed.

"Yes, of course we will—I trained you all to be fighters, and that will not change now at this final battle. Do not feel the need to give goodbye speeches to one another. The way we have lived our lives is the testament to our love and devotion for each other."

I shivered. We were barely out of our teenage years, the time when everyone feels invincible. I did not think that it would end this way.

"Donnie, do you have any notes or anything from when the Professor was here?" Mikey asked.

I knew this question would crop up sooner or later, and my heart sank, knowing what my answer would be. "Yes, but I have the notes of the chemical configuration for the _antidote_ only. The professor's mission was to destroy all the remaining ooze, so he wouldn't have given me instructions on how to make more."

"Can you figure it out based on what you already have?" Mikey's voice was urgent, insistent, hopeful.

I shook my head slowly. "It doesn't exactly work that way, Mikey…it's not just an exact reverse of the formulas."

"And the Professor did warn us that he would be hard to find, after such a dangerous episode as we had when he was here," Splinter reminded us. "And we are ninjas, not detectives. We will have to do some thinking about what exactly is our missing link. Leonardo, Michelangelo, I am releasing you now to search the city. See if you can find anything unusual that's going on, but I will be surprised if you do. Stay together at all times." We all knew the unspoken reason why they could not split up.

Mickey and Leo left, but I had not been dismissed. I looked at him intently, waiting for my orders.

"Donatello…" Splinter briefly put a comforting claw on my shoulder. "I know that you frequently carry a disproportionate amount of the burden on your shoulders. Do not trouble yourself if your scientific brain cannot compute an answer to this riddle of existence. Perhaps our time is up, and we are meant to return to the more basic way of life that we were created for."

My shoulders relaxed slightly. I cherished his words, but Splinter only had the power to absolve a certain amount of guilt. "Thank you, Master," I said sincerely. "Would you like me to review the Professor's notes?"

"Yes, in a minute. After you say whatever it is that you've been thinking of saying since our meeting began."

I cringed. I was the most emotionally perceptive of my brothers, but Splinter could read me like a book. "I'm sorry, I know you would have addressed this eventually, but…what are you going to do with Raphael?"

A look of raw pain entered our sensei's eyes. He cleared his throat, and I wondered if he would have choked on these words otherwise. "I will…I will have to find or create a large cage for him."

A part of me died at the thought of my brother under such degradation, but I pressed on. "Then, Master…I suppose we should communicate where the last of us should release us into the wild?"

Splinter paused, and met my gaze meaningfully. "Yes, I will release you and your brothers where you will be the happiest and most fulfilled."

Taken aback, I responded, "Why do you think you will be the last among us, Father?"

Splinter gave a small, tight smile, a trace of wistfulness in his eyes. "I was very, very old when I stumbled into the ooze," he said. "Yet I'm still here, and my young sons' time must be up. The ooze must affect rats differently than turtles." Splinter motioned for me to stand up, and touched my arm affectionately. "I tell you this _not_ so you can further chastise yourself," he said firmly, and I looked down. He had read my mind again. "I tell you so you will know that the burden is not on you. I will take the burden upon myself. If I cannot bring you back to mutant form in a reasonable amount of time, then I will end your confinement and release you in an area that nature intended. I love you all very much, my son."


	2. Chapter 2

"I can't believe the two of them were the first to go." Mikey looked bleakly inside the generous pen that Splinter had constructed. Raph and Leo wandered aimlessly, mildly curious about their new surroundings. "They were our leaders…you and I are kind of passive, but they took the initiative."

I acutely heard the past tense in his words, and also a subconscious message: Maybe it would have been better if Raph and Leo were in charge now, not us. My feet felt like cement. I was tired, exhausted, and rather than sadness, I felt a numbness that seeped the colors out of my surroundings. Somewhere in my brain, I knew that these were the early signs of depression, and that I could not give in to this reaction right when there might be some kind of hope.

Right then the two small turtles seemed to notice each other, and there was a mild stand-off as neither refused to deviate from their chosen path. Shells scraped slightly as no one budged, and a small grin began to crack through the tight, dry skin on my face. "Look at that, Mike," I nudged. "They're still fighting for power."

"Donatello," Splinter called from my lab. I took a lingering look at Michelangelo, as it might be my last, and grudgingly returned to my fruitless work.

"Yes, Master," I said wearily, although respectfully. I never knew which words would be my final. Leonardo had shrunk in his sleep thirteen hours after Raphael, leaving very little standard deviation from the average expected time of de-mutation. I'd explained to Mikey that that meant that he and I were soon doomed as well, since we'd all initially crawled through the ooze at the same time.

"What do you need?" Splinter asked. "It's time to start trying anything and everything." I noticed new wrinkles, and a bald spot in his whiskers. This past day had aged us all. We'd been through many crises as a family, but never since TGRI had it so directly threatened us to the core of our identities.

"Master…" My lungs literally felt crushed by the weight of defeat. "Everything I've done so far is preliminary work. All these impressive-looking beakers, bunson burners, colorful liquids, everything. I can't do anything at all without another canister of ooze. We walked through a lot of it as infants, so who knows how much we'd need full-grown." I fervently wished that Mikey and Leo had found some kind of abnormal activity above-ground yesterday that would have explained all of this better. I felt like a junkie, desperately searching for his next fix.

Splinter paced slowly, his back to me, and I began to question if he'd been listening to my speech, which had become my usual disclaimer. "Master?" I questioned curiously, hesitantly, walking around to face him from the front. "…What are you thinking of?"

He looked at me with slightly narrowed, pondering eyes. "Forgive me, I'm no scientist. But I'm wondering, since the ooze seems to have much more lasting effects on me…if we shouldn't start considering blood transfusions."

I wouldn't have been surprised if my eyebrows had risen right off my face. I gaped at him. "What?"

"I've already pricked myself and put a drop of my blood under your microscope." Splinter motioned with a wave of his hand. "Humor me."

I looked uncertainly at him but straddled my stool, rolling over and peering down. "Hmmm…yes, you've got strains that we definitely don't have." I knew better than to get into more specific clinical talk.

"Is there a chance that it might work?" Splinter asked impatiently.

It had been an interesting idea, but no. "Sensei, given the ratios of different compounds with the antidote, I would extrapolate that blood infusions would only be effective with pints of blood for each of us."

Splinter grabbed my bicep then, harshly and painfully, and I cried out. "Swear to me," he said fiercely. "Swear to me that you are telling me the truth, that even if I used every drop of blood in my body, it would not work. Swear on your brothers' graves."

My brow crinkled helplessly, and I desperately wanted to sleep for three days' straight after the nonstop shocks and disappointments that had happened in the past twenty-four hours. "I swear it," I pleaded, feeling small drops of blood where his claw dug in. "I swear on our graves that you cannot possibly save us like that."

Splinter let go and continued to walk back and forth angrily, despairingly. "Of course there were no more canisters of ooze," he said, trying to hide the growing anxiety and panic in his voice. "What if…what if we were able to get just a little of it, and combine it with my blood?"

That was a new concept. "I have no idea, Master Splinter. I don't know the formula of the ooze. According to the antidote formula, it would take maybe a one to three ratio of ooze to your blood to shrink us, but there's absolutely no guarantee that it would work the other way around."

"And how much of the whole mixture do you need?" Splinter asked for the umpteenth time.

I stifled an irritated groan just in time—he was not following through on his promise that the burden was mostly on him. "I don't know. But it stands to reason that the bigger the mixture, the more time it will buy us until we need another dosage."

"We know where we might be able to get just a sample of ooze." I realized where he was going with this and opened my mouth to voice my resignations, but Splinter's head snapped up with tension. "Michelangelo," he said urgently. "Michelangelo!" he called, hobbling quickly.

My heart also skipped a beat or two as we realized how long we'd left Mikey alone, but Mikey quickly threw open the door. "I'm fine," he said slightly breathlessly, and Splinter folded himself into Mikey's side in a full, tight hug. I smiled ruefully at this rare sight; Mikey and Splinter had had several rough patches over the years, although Splinter always made sure to differentiate between our roles as students and sons.

"I have one final order for you, my sons," Splinter began. My forehead dropped against the door, as I knew what was coming. "You must go to the docks where Shredder was crushed and come back with whatever ooze samples you can find."


	3. Chapter 3

I felt a shudder of superstition as Mikey and I returned to the docks outside the nightclub. This was where we had faced the Shredder for the final time; this was where Shredder had abused the last of the ooze for his own gain. He had wasted the last of the terrifying and precious substance that had made my family mutate.

"How is this going to happen?" I muttered to Mikey, although of course I was the one expected to find the answers. What were the odds that there would be extra ooze hanging around? The Foot had long since taken Shredder's body to give it a proper burial, although of course that respect should only have been afforded to those with honor.

Mikey let out a soft curse and pointed to the far right, by the river. I knew what it was at first glance: more dandelions, just like Freddie had taken to the Shredder to alert him of the ooze's reemergence. "Come on," I hissed, and grabbed Mikey's shoulder to approach them from the front.

Mikey and I were scared to even get close to the flowers, as we had always had a healthy fear and respect for the ooze, although now that would have to change since we knew that we were addicted to it. I grabbed a stalk and tore it off by the stem. A thick, green substance poured out of it, something much more potent than chlorophyll. Maybe these plants were now producing more ooze as they grew. Whatever was going on, this was our only option.

I grabbed six dandelions, leaving two to grow since we would need live plants in the future. "Come on," I said over my shoulder, but heard no response.

I whirled around, automatically in panic mode. My brother was nowhere in sight. I frantically began to search along the coastline, screaming curses at myself for possibly letting him drift into the bay. I retraced my steps exactly, and felt relief yet horror at discovering a small turtle in the middle of the field, slightly off the path. Then I saw his orange bandana to the right. So I hadn't even been there for my brother in the midst of his transformation. Greatly fearful for my own existence now, I scooped up Mikey in my hands, breaking into a sprint to get back to the lair.

I had to take the subway and risk de-mutating right in the middle of public. Blood rushed through my ears as my pulse pounded, and I ran straight down the sewer tunnel after exiting the subway, skipping my usual precautions of waiting until no one was looking.

"Almost there," I calmed myself. "One more corner." A stabbing pain hit me then. I discerned immediately that it was due to some organs shrinking at a different rate than others. The pain increased and I forced myself to run through the agony, stumbling around the corner. I saw the light from my sewer den through a fog as my eyes began to shrink. I had to get Splinter's attention. I had to yell.

I crumpled to my knees as my feet shrank considerably. My vocal cords scraped, but I managed to force out a sharp cry. One arm suddenly became a flipper.

I saw my master then, in the instant before I lost my vision. Splinter was frantically attempting to comfort me, a hand on my shell, somehow managing to use a soothing voice as he lost his final son. I made use of my new flipper to point toward Mikey heading for the center of the sewer. Then I lost awareness.


	4. Chapter 4

Splinter's heart pounded as he ran calf-deep into sewage, frantically pulling out a small turtle and holding it preciously to his chest. He gasped softly as he felt a small bite. "Even now you are challenging me, Michelangelo," he said affectionately as he immediately returned to pick up Donnie. He left behind the precious dandelions as he first made sure that his last two sons were in the pen with his first.

Splinter turned and collected the dandelions, stopping to gaze intently at the four turtles in the pen, and entered Donnie's lab. He carefully pulled the pen and turtles into the lab with him. "Three to one, three to one," he muttered to himself, ignoring Donatello's other words about the poor chances of this working.

Splinter focused completely on his tasks, exercising the fruits of his years of meditation. He understood immediately what Donnie's assessment of the flowers had been, and Splinter took a container and drained every drop of the thick substance from the flowers. He knew that this was significantly too little ooze for it to work by itself. He divided the ooze into four equal parts, and put each portion in its own bowl. He would need three times as much of his own blood to mix with this. Times four.

Splinter knew that he and the turtles had walked into a considerable amount of ooze in order to transform. He assessed the situation and determined that he would not be able to mix the new formula well. He fervently hoped that this would work anyway.

He calmly took each of the four turtles and placed them inside the containers of ooze, where they began exploring and walking slowly just as they had twenty-two years ago. He lay down and put his feet into two of the containers and his hands into the other two, lying on the floor in a cross-shape. Splinter then took a scalpel and sliced significant cuts on both hands and both feet, lying back and allowing the blood to flow from his lacerations. He occasionally felt a turtle rub against his hands or feet, and experienced a deep sense of love and contentment as he lost consciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

I groaned, awakening to possibly the worst migraine headache of my life. All the shouting and frantic activity didn't help things, either.

"Donnie!" I heard through the fog. "Put this rag on Sensei's left hand!"

My ninja training kicked in, although with many complaints from my body. I blinked rapidly several times and did as told, only then stopping to survey the scene. My eyes widened in horror.

I had been the last to go and the last to return. Raph, Leo, and Mikey were all frantically applying pressure to Splinter's hands and feet; we now were each responsible for the area that our master had wounded for us. Splinter lay unconscious, barely recognizable with such a sickly shade of skin.

I instantly knew what had happened. "Dammit!" I cried. "This is all my fault."

My brothers looked at me in a fog of panic and emotional pain, but currently didn't care how this came about; we wanted it reversed. There were no veterinary personnel we could call to give care to the only human-sized rat on the planet. "He's breathing," Leo said. "Barely." I knew that Leo was also thinking about the time we'd almost lost Raph.

But there was nothing we could do but wait. Or was there?

"Donnie, what about the ooze?" Leo asked. "Maybe it will help heal wounds faster."

I shook my head. "The ooze will only make him bigger. He doesn't need wound healing, he needs blood. Maybe now is the time to start Splinter's transfusion idea." I looked at each of my brothers in turn. "How are you guys doing? Despite this monster headache, I mean?"

"Fine," Raph and Leo said, and Mikey nodded agreement.

"Then it's time to take turns giving blood," I said. I knew I would have to pick one of my brothers to go first, so there wouldn't be a fight, and I picked Leo since he felt an increased burden as the leader of our group. "Leo, you're first. Kneel down here next to his left arm."

Leo immediately did as told, while I did my best to sterilize the ancient medical equipment I'd come across years ago. "Now, Donnie, please," Leo said urgently while Mikey and Raph stood by, helpless. "Find a strong-enough looking vein at Splinter's elbow," I said to give them something to do.

I gave it one final wipe and found a large vein in my brother's arm, inserting the needle in one end. Then I turned around and inspected the vein Raph had found, pressing it gently. I winced as I pricked my fragile father figure, keeping my eyes off his face. He couldn't feel it, anyway. I pressed a button and Leo's blood began to transfer to our master.

An urgent silence dropped upon us as we waited for something to happen. But this was a process, not instantaneous. "You _must_ tell me when you feel weak, Leo," I said firmly. "There are four of us." He nodded.

I decided to give my usual disclaimer. "No guarantee that this will work, guys," I said. I was taking quite a gamble even doing this; who knew how turtle blood would interact with rat blood? It was fine for us to walk in it, but Leo's blood was flowing directly into Splinter's circulatory system.

"Alright, we need to set you up to be next, Raph," I said, ignoring Mikey's look of protest. I certainly did not need one of Raphael's tantrums right now. I wiped Raph's arm.

"Don't you dare wipe that contraption off, Don," Raph said vehemently. "Get it in me right away." So I did. Leo cleaned himself up and ignored my orders to hydrate.

I was preparing to stick myself when the first signs of color began to appear on Splinter's features. "Look at that," Mikey said, with a twinge of hope in his voice.

I was pleased, but I refused to celebrate just yet. "Guys, you've got to replenish your levels," I snapped. "Go drink some juice or something. We'll be on Round 2 pretty soon and you'll be no use to anybody if we have to worry about you, too."

Raph and Leo grudgingly obeyed as I then pricked myself.

We were almost through Round Two when Splinter opened his eyes.

There was a round of choking sobs as my brothers crowded around. I forced myself not to do the same, hissing, "Guys! Don't overwhelm him! Get back!"

Splinter took several moments to get his bearings, gazing around the room, a slight smile on his face. "My sons," he said, raspy from emotion and exhaustion. "I would have sacrificed everything for you."


	6. Chapter 6

"Do not coddle me!" Splinter protested as, several hours later, my brothers and I were still arguing who could get him another blanket or a cup of tea. "You forget, my sons, that you all have experienced trauma as well recently."

Yes, we had. Who cared about us? We wanted Splinter well. Splinter had bandaged scars on his hands and feet that would most likely be permanent, and somewhat larger hands and feet from his contact with the ooze.

"Although your intentions are good," Splinter followed up grudgingly, and forced himself to take another sip of whatever fluid someone had just offered him. "But do not ever—" he looked at each of us meaningfully, very serious now—"_ever_ put your lives in danger to save me. You are the purpose and fruit of my life, my sons. I want to leave this world knowing that you are still in it. Swear this to me now."

This process took about twenty minutes, as Splinter could tell that we had no intentions to truly follow that order, and he argued passionately until he had a solemn oath from each one of us.

"And now," Splinter sighed. "We have much work to do, and soon. We must contact the professor. We must transplant the dandelions at the dock. We need more ooze."

We sat silently, absorbing this. This would be a tall order, as the professor considered the ooze to be the ultimate failure in his career. "How much time do we have, Donnie?" Mikey asked.

"That I don't know." I nodded toward Splinter. "Ask the expert."

Splinter sighed. "You all were smothered in a lot…an awful lot of ooze, to buy you these 22 years. A small bowlful will certainly last nowhere near as long." He looked at each of us in turn, tired but happy. "And we will all be even more grateful for each day, from now on."

My eyes swept around the room, and I shuddered at the memory of each of my brothers becoming pet-sized turtles again and put in a pen, and of waking up to see my master near death. "Yes," I said, and similar answers chimed in.

Suddenly Mikey's face lit up.

"What is it, my son?" Splinter asked.

"We're related to you by blood now, Master Splinter," Mikey said. "Your blood helped us mutate, and we transfused some of our blood into you."

Slowly smiles began to appear on other faces as well. That was an encouraging thought.


End file.
